Great White Pelicans, monk seals, otters, red foxes, night herons, red-breasted geese and white-tailed eagles – the list of animals native to Romania’s Danube Delta is incredibly long. The biosphere reserve’s unique natural environment offers them a protected and diverse habitat: over 2,900 species of mammals, birds and insects have been counted in the delta. Among them are some rare or endangered species.
The region is special not only because of the arms of the Danube that flow through the delta into the Black Sea, but also because of the closely interwoven habitats: here, Central European forests meet Mediterranean vegetation and sand dunes meet floating islands. If you want to experience the 5,800-square-metre delta in its most natural form, you should venture out onto the many narrow channels of the Danube in a rowing boat or visit a bird watching camp. Incidentally, a culinary speciality is the local fish soup in Sulina, the only city in the delta, which is traditionally prepared in water from the Danube.
Photo: Red Kite in the Danube Delta. Credits: Unsplash/Zdenek Machacek.
